Best School Trips

During the summer holidays 18 QM students from our senior years set off, along with three members of the QM Sports Department, for an incredible Sports Tour to South Africa. They have a full schedule of exciting excursions planned including Table Mountain, Robben Island, whale watching, Camps Bay and game drives, as well as sports fixtures against South African schools and clubs. Follow this blog for regular photos and updates...

Thursday 24th August

They have arrived! The group has landed safely after their overnight flight to Cape Town (via Doha). The four Year V girls were especially pleased to land as it meant the wait was over and they would finally be able to find out their GCSE results which were released whilst they were mid-air! Congratulations girls, you can enjoy your trip knowing your hard work has paid off!

First stop, Table Mountain:

Friday 25th August

The group's planned trip to Robben Island was sadly postponed in the morning, and so it was onto St Cyprian's School in some stunning surroundings for Hockey and Netball fixtures. Netball was played in St Cyprian's new sports hall and, although the QM girls couldn't quite keep up with the pace, both teams did well. It was wonderful to see the integration of different cultures.

Saturday 26th August

Today the girls visited The Goedgedacht Trust for a day of outreach activities and a Netball fixture. The Goedgedacht Trust was established in 1993 to contribute to the transformation of disadvantaged rural communities. The girls got to see how the work of the Trust is transforming the communities and they had an afternoon filled with laughter, friendship and fun with Netball matches and dance lessons with the girls from the Trust.

In the evening the group enjoyed an 'African Taste Safari' which was a wonderful evening of food and entertainment.

Sunday 27th August

On day four of their South African adventure, the group visited Boulders Beach to see the penguins! They then visited Sheila's Cafe for traditional South African food and music. The girls loved this experience and were in full voice! Their evening was spent having a fun supper at City Grill (comedy hats compulsory!).

Monday 28th August

The girls transferred to Garden Route Game Lodge where they enjoyed a lovely lunch, some free time and a sunset game drive (the first of two planned game drives).

Tuesday 29th August

The early start for their sunrise game drive was worth it! This was topped off by the amazing opportunity to feed the elephants.

Wednesday 30th August

The group set off back along the coastal path to Hermanus for whale watching and their third sports fixture against Fairmont High School.

Thursday 31st August

Today marked the group's final full day of their tour and their final fixture against Pinelands High School. Sadly, the rearranged trip to Robben Island, which was postponed earlier in the tour due to strong winds, was cancelled and so the girls enjoyed some time exploring V&A Waterfront before their last fixture instead.

Friday 1st September

After making memories that will last a lifetime, the girls began their trip back to Manchester airport via Doha. Some even managed to squeeze a little bit of school work in on the plane home! They landed safely on Saturday morning for some family time before making their way back to QM on Sunday for the start of the new term. The staff and girls all had wonderful stories to share with everyone back at QM and the entire group were in agreement about what an incredible experience it had been. A huge thank you to Mrs Rastall for the huge amount of organisation which went into this trip, and to Mrs Taylor and Mrs Mitchell for their support of the group too.